Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1887-12-09
THE DELUSivE TRADE DOLLARS.
Making Them Into Rricks n, the As
say Office--1reasureso fthe Vaults

On recent Friday afternoon, says
The Ncto Yort Tribune. the last melt
of the 3. 49, 533 trade dollars which
have been received at the United States
assay Office in Wall street since the act
of congress authorizing their purchase
went into effect was completed. and the
limpid silver was poured into the
moulds and transformed into silver
bricks. /. 100 to l 200 ounces in weight
a ''melt' of silver at the
assay Office means five thous-
and ounces Therefore, in order
to make way with the whole num-
Der of the $500, 900 trade dollars about
seven 'melts" were necessary. a re-
porter CHANGED to be present and stood
near the crucibe when these last repre-
seniatives of a dead currency slowly
lost their individuality and became "a
shapeless. glittering mass. Their
career was not OF honor
What is dcnominated an Enclosure
IN one of the vaults of the ASSAY office
contains over four hundred cubic feet
of trade dollars which have passed
the crucibe and are now stacked up in
the shape of silver bricks. The COVER
ment has pa about So 400 600 for
them, but they are useless. Supt.
Andrew Mason says. and usless made
into standard dollars. a loss of about -
per cent would be sustained in dispos-
ing of the metal TO manufacturers and
artisans. The furnish NJ of gold and
: lvcr bars for manufacturing purposes
is. Supt Mason says a growing bust
ness at the assay office During the
past year these bars. to the value of
$40, Co., 600 have been sold for use in
arts and manufactures, an increase Of
81, 600, 600 over any previous year.
When The last melt" of the trade
dollars had been poured into The mods
and made into brick. the reporter OBJ
served that two small quantities, per-
haps of Il era or two each, were put
into little receptacles and sent to the
ASSAY NJ room. These, explained
ASSISTANT hNShNci 81 i. W iucl, are
the samples for asSaying. Two are
taken from each melt. They are
each aSsayed by different persons. and
their work must tally. If it does not.
the work is repeated If the two as
says fail to agree the whole melt is re-
melted and fresh samples taken. Then
the process is gone through with again.
The greatest care is taken, said
Mr. Wider ITO gaurd against mac
curacieS. The assaying S done by the
Gay Lussac method The exact
amount of metal is weighed and dis
solved in nitric &C Il. Then CROUCH
chlorine is added to precip'tate pre-
cisely drachm OF pure silver. The
solution is then shaken for three m n.
utes in n shaking machine Gun by
steam) after which it is allowed to set
tie. More salt water is added. every
atom of VIII ch is taken account Of and
ii any silver rema ms in solution it
shows a slight cloud ness. The opera
ton is repeated until no cloud ness APP
pears. showing that no silver rema rs
in solution; that it has all been precipi-
tated. Then n calculation is made as
to the exact iineness of the samples
of silver in the trade dollar. which is
corrected by silver proofs. When the
iineness is thoroughly ascerta ned it is
stamped upon the bar or brick
which has been formed by the
melted dollars, together with the value.
weight. melt number. aud the number
OF the bar Then the bar or brick is
sent to the Enclosure before mentioned,
where the other tradc-dollar' brio ks
are kept under a combination safe lock.
The comb nation of tn : rs well As OF
the other safe locks in the building is
known only to Supt. Mason and one
other trusted Ollie al. -
The ant quatei building used as the
assay office was formerly the sub-treas-
ury. 1t has been occupied for its pres
ent purposes since the year 1854. and
the work and bus ness done there have
long since outgrown it, The old tene-
ment shakes perceptbly when heavily
loaded truck passes in the street in
front Of it. interfering with the ascer-
tanning of weights upon the delicate
little scales used by Assistant Assayer
Wilder. upon which he is able to dis
cover the specific gravity of an object
almost infnitesimal--an winker,
for instance. He often calculates for
visiting statesmen the exact weight of
their signatures. minus the gravity of
the paper upon which they are written.
The sum. Mr.. Wilker remarked often
represented the weight Of the respective
statesmen's political influence after
they had been registered among the
"has been The reporters visit TO the
gold-rooms revealed many things curl
Gus and interesting. Here were bags of
scrap gold of all grades sent in by
jewellers and workers in gold and sill